E-commerce KYC: data-driven anti-fraud, demonstrated 220:1 ROI
The real cost of e-commerce fraud
Online fraud has reached an industrial level. Four statistics summarize the stake you face.
E-commerce fraud stakes in numbers
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| of average revenue lost to fraud each year | 3% |
| spent for every euro defrauded (chargeback, investigation, operating costs) | €3.64 |
| in annual global losses for e-commerce | $41B |
| in annual fraud in France | €1.1B |
Sources: sector studies on e-commerce 2023-2025, ACPR (French prudential authority) annual reports, Banque de France. E-commerce has become a prime target for identity theft, credit-card spoofing and takeover of existing accounts. We see this phenomenon accelerate as synthetic-identity generation tools spread.
Why KYC has become critical in e-commerce
Online payment democratized far faster than identity verification means. The generalization of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), multi-vendor marketplaces and financial services embedded in e-commerce platforms has multiplied the attack surfaces. KYC (Know Your Customer, customer identity verification) is no longer optional to protect yourself.
PSD2 (the EU payment services directive) imposes strong customer authentication at the moment of payment, technically delivered through 3-D Secure (3DS). But this authentication only validates possession of the payment instrument — it does not verify the real identity of the buyer. To fight document fraud, synthetic identity and impersonation, data-driven e-commerce KYC has become indispensable. Source: ACPR, EBA PSD2 guidelines.
Four critical e-commerce use cases
CASE 1
Marketplaces
You verify the identity of B2C/B2B sellers before listing (DSA, Digital Services Act, requirement).
CASE 2
BNPL and instant credit
You apply mandatory KYC above €200 and document compliance with AMLD6 (the 6th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive).
CASE 3
Sales above €200
You limit the risk of fraudulent chargebacks and card repudiation.
CASE 4
Embedded financial services
You secure payment, micro-credit and affinity insurance.
Our eIDV (electronic identity verification) intervenes upstream of document friction. The majority of your customers are identified without uploading a document. Only at-risk profiles or those that cannot be identified that way trigger a complementary document request.
E-commerce use cases
A new customer creates an account on your site. In the background, our API queries transactional, government, telecom and media sources in under one second to confirm the real existence of the profile. The majority of sign-ups are validated without visible friction. Uncertain profiles trigger targeted document verification — not the whole flow.
For high-value orders, or for a recent customer, you gain by triggering identification at order time to reduce chargeback risk. Our setup integrates natively into your online payment funnel: less than 800 ms latency per call, compatible with your 3-D Secure orchestration.
BNPL players must apply full KYC above €200. Our solution combines identity verification, sanctions screening and risk scoring in a single API call. The purchase journey stays fluid, AMLD6 compliance is documented at every step.
For marketplaces, the Digital Services Act (DSA) requires verification of the identity of every seller, individual or professional, and their traceability over time. We integrate KYB (Know Your Business, identification of seller companies) verification and the identification of beneficial owners. You document your DSA obligations without slowing down the enrollment of your seller partners.
ROI modeling on a typical e-commerce setup
The economic case for eIDV is striking. Take an online merchant that acquires 100,000 new customers a year.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual new customers | 100,000 |
| Fraud rate without eIDV (3%) | 3,000 fraudsters |
| Average fraud cost | €150 |
| Annual fraud losses | €450,000 |
| eIDV cost (€1.50 × 100,000) | €150,000 |
| Net annual gain on new customers | €300,000 |
On the existing client base (600,000 recurring customers with a 3% fraud rate and an average cost of €150), the net gain reaches €1.8 million per year. Overall, the documented ROI on eIDV deployments in e-commerce commonly exceeds 220:1, in line with the cases observed on online banking.
Our data approach for e-commerce
Our conviction is intact: "Because today, everything can be forged — except real life and what people actually buy." A bank card can be stolen, a password phished, a selfie deepfaked. But an individual who pays their energy, rent and mobile subscription at the same address for three years cannot be invented.
We verify identity through data from verified purchase transactions, backed by government, telecom and media sources.
- Transactional: verified purchase activity, address tenure, tax household
- Government: official registries, sanctions lists, PEP databases
- Telecom: number reliability, subscription tenure
- Media: editorial and professional presence, name/address cross-checks
Our approach is a necessary complement to the other KYC layers (biometrics, document checks) — not a replacement. Whether you wish to keep a document layer or switch to a frictionless mode, our eIDV plugs in upstream and turns document friction into an exception rather than a rule. The technology integrates into your existing anti-fraud system. To dig deeper, you can explore the overview of KYC & eIDV solutions.
PSD2, GDPR, AMLD6 and DSA compliance built in
PSD2
We activate strong customer authentication and orchestrate access to payment information (Open Banking) through 3-D Secure.
GDPR
We minimize customer data, justify every legal basis and govern retention periods.
AMLD6
We track the twenty-two harmonized underlying offenses of the 6th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
DSA
You document the traceability of sellers on your marketplaces.
DORA
You strengthen the operational resilience of your financial e-commerce platforms.
Our solution integrates these requirements by default. TLS 1.3 encryption, EU hosting, audit data logging, end-to-end traceability. Your sensitive data never leaves the European environment.
Why choose Euroleads
5 million verifications per month
Across every industry, on our entire data perimeter.
PSD2, GDPR, AMLD6, DSA compliance
Integrated by construction into every API call.
Euroleads is neither judge nor party
Independence from biometric and anti-fraud vendors — our recommendations are never biased by an in-house solution.
4,000 worldwide sources
To cover your international customers across all their jurisdictions.
Latency < 800 ms, 99.95% SLA
Native performance in your payment funnel and sign-up journeys.
Frictionless by default
Most customers validated without a document; the document layer triggers only as an exception.
45 years of French data expertise
In international data, with nearly ten years in eIDV.
Free audit
Of your existing anti-fraud setup, to measure your current assets and the optimum reachable against your goals.
Whether you run pure-play retail, marketplaces, BNPL, embedded financial services, digital subscriptions, mobility, ticketing or rental real estate, together we calibrate the KYC process to the risk profile and the volume.
Euroleads is part of MV Group (seven digital and data companies: Yumens, GoodBuy Media, Euroleads, Tribu, Avanci, Yes Indeed, Weaver-fi). You benefit from the synergy of every digital and data trade under one group.
Compute your eIDV ROI in 30 minutes
Compute your eIDV ROI in 30 minutes with our experts. A quantified diagnosis is our commitment. Our e-commerce sector leads will evaluate your anti-fraud setup and its optimization potential together with you.